Improvement in machines for cleaning cotton



JAMES E. HOOPEB, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

vIMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR CLEANING COTTON.

- Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 52,289, dated January30, 1866.

To all whom t may concern.:

Beit known that I, JAMES E. HoorER, of Baltimore, in the county ofBaltimore and State of Maryland, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Machines for Oleanin g Cotton; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full and correct description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompany ing drawings, forming pa-rt of thisspecilication, and to the letters ot' reference marked thereon.

rlhe same letters denote similar parts in all the gures.

In opening and cleaning cotton preparatory to carding and spinning itamachine is used which is called a willow.7 This machine is connected toalong trough, through which the cotton is driven from the willow by acurrent of air set in motion by the willow. A Wire screen is placed inthe lower part of the trough, to allow the dirt separating from thecotton to pass through.4

My improvement is mainly in the mode of arranging this screen or screensin the trough, for it' laid in one plane, as is usual, it ha's but apartial effect in separating the dirt from the cotton, because they passso readily over the screen. To obviate this difculty I make a series ofinclined planes of the screens, that the cotton in passing from one toanother ot' these planes may receivea succession of shocks that willcause the dirt to fall from the cotton onto the screens and pass throughin the receptacle below.

Figure l shows a vertical lengthwise section of a portion of the trough.Eig. 2 is a top view of the trough with the cover removed to show thescreens.

Ais the trough through which the cotton passes. B B B- are the screens,placed so as to form a series of inclined planes sloping toward thewillow. c c c are shutters, which are opened when it is necessary toremove the dirt that has collected in the bottom of the trough. Thedotted lines a e s show an arrangement by which motion can be given tothe screens by hanging them =on pivots a, and putting arms e on the endsofthe pivots, and. connecting these arms together by a rod, s. The rodbeing pnt in motion by the machine will vibrate the ends of the screenup and down. The arrows J J show the direction in which the cottonpasses from the willow.

The Operation is as follows: The cotton passes up out ofthe willow intothe trough in the directions otl the arrows J J, when 'it strikes theirst incline, and bounding up passes forward and strikes the nextincline, shaking the dirt ont, and passing on in this manner over allthe screens, leaving the dirt behind in the screens and the cottoncoming ont of the trough thoroughly cleaned.

The screens are usually made of wire-netting; but I do not confine myarrangement to that material, but apply it to screens made of perforatedsheet metal or to screens made of any other material.

I claim- The combination of the screens, arranged BENJAMIN ARNOLD, JAMEsE. ARNOLD.

